Cycling the Bay Area & Stories from the Garden

Shade Garden & other Goings-On!

I hemmed and I hawed, I moved and then I put back before I moved it again. In the end, I think that I found the spot (I sure hope so, the planter is way too heavy to move now!). I spent a good portion of yesterday looking at the patio before I made any decisions – I originally intended the planter to sit against the patio wall lengthwise; however, the more I thought about it, the more I thought that if I fit it sideways, it would better frame the patio/garden.

The first plant to occupy the planter is a long runner from the Strawberry ‘lipstick’ plant, time will tell if the runner will take root and provide a layer of edible ground-cover for the targeted plants (hostas, ornamental grasses, and hydrangea).

Speaking of the ‘lipstick’ strawberry – I was a bit too slow in picking the sole berry and my friendly neighborhood squirrel took advantage of my slowness. I hope he enjoyed it, it looked tasty.

I rearranged the garden containers again – in an effort to see how the framing would work as I add more and more plants. I am sure that I will rearrange all of the containers again somewhere down the road.

The Garden - rearranged yet again

The Container Grouping

My Coleus continue to thrive and seem to be getting bigger everyday – the largest leaves are now about 3″x5″ and rise 14″ from the soil level! Impressive growth for plants that I purchased in 3″ pots from Whole Foods about 2-months ago. They are not really difficult to grow – I just keep the soil moist and they live on my kitchen table in front of a sunny window. I fertilize with an all-purpose 5 – 1.3 – 3 plant food every other week and just let them do what they do.

Coleus 'king mix'

Coleus 'meandering linda'

The Amazon Sunset ‘Parrot’s Beak’ are flowering beautifully right now. I didn’t really know anything about these when I bought them – the picture just looked cool! Again, I am very happy that I did – they are wonderful!

Amazon Sunset 'Parrot's Beak'

Amazon Sunset is full glory

I am also trying to get a handle on the Orchids that I was given – I have zero experience with them; however, they are just plants – how tough could they be? I will answer that question in the posts to come.